Women in Dentistry

[AllSmiles]

What do you all think about the topic of starting a family? I think more pressure is put on the woman to have children while she is still "young" (below 30), so where does this leave women in the field of dentistry? Having kids while in dental school? Putting off starting a practice/joining a practice to have kids first??

[flintabatty]

the stats say that women are less likely to have children if they continue in a career past it's first year. Most families start having children when the woman is about 27 these days, and the pressure to have children before 35 is warranted in some ways. after 35 the risk of down's syndrome increases by 50%. Anyway, I would hate to think of being in school with a child (and single), or even coupled for that matter! My wife and I raised a puppy this year while doing my last year and that was nerve-racking enough! I know we are waiting until I finish school (if I get in this year, god I hope i do...) to raise a family, money would get tight we think.

[dr.drill]

What do you all think about the topic of starting a family? I think more pressure is put on the woman to have children while she is still "young" (below 30), so where does this leave women in the field of dentistry? Having kids while in dental school? Putting off starting a practice/joining a practice to have kids first??

 

Either.

 

The nice thing about dentistry is that you can work as much as you want. You can buy a practice and never work there until your kids are in school. The profession is incredibly flexible. You can make what you want of it.

[AllSmiles]

If one was to buy a practice while the kids are still young, what part of the practice would the doctor actually control? I'm assuming another doctor would be working there and making most of the profit...unless they were paid like an associate but worked full time (but who would want to do that?). Also, if woman hypothetically had children right after dental school, bought a practice, then started to actually work there say 4 years later, wouldn't she be very inexperienced and "rusty" on her skills. Might as well just throw away all the things you learned in dental school.

 

I'm thinking one of the better scenarios would be to work in a group practice with a lot flexibility and slowly increase the hours worked as the child grows up, then when they are in school full time could start own practice or something like that.

[Neuromuscular]

My cousin and his wife are both dentists and she has had 4 children over the past 10 years while practicing part time here and there and specializing in perio at the UofM. She's now practicing part time and teaching part time (or maybe even full-time now) at the U.

 

Now, they also had a full time nanny, and i'm sure she was insanely busy, but the possibilities are endless. This is an extremely flexible profession. If you want to only see patients 1 or 2 days a week to keep sharp while you're raising a child you can totally do that.